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Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
In the Section 31 and Julian Bashir ' |image= |series= |production=40510-565 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Ronald D. Moore |director= David Livingston |imdbref=tt0708560 |guests=Adrienne Barbeau as Cretak, John Fleck as Koval, Barry Jenner as Admiral Ross, Hal Landon Jr. as Neral, Andrew Robinson as Elim Garak and William Sadler as Luther Sloan |previous_production=Chimera |next_production=Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang |episode=DS9 S07E16 |airdate= 3 March 1999 |previous_release=(DS9) Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang (Overall) Course: Oblivion |next_release=(DS9) Penumbra (Overall) The Fight |story_date(s)=Unstated |group="N"}} (2375) |previous_story=Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang |next_story=Course: Oblivion }} Summary As Julian Bashir prepares to go to a conference on Romulus, Luther Sloan shows up in his quarters with a Section 31 assignment. Bashir boards the USS Bellerophon, where Sloan explains that the assignment is to confirm the rumor that Koval, the anti-Federation head of the secretive Tal Shiar Romulan intelligence agency, and a candidate for a seat on a powerful Senate committee, suffers from Tuvan syndrome, a condition that primarily affects Vulcans and Romulans. Bashir discusses the issue with Admiral William Ross. Ross says it would be better if Federation-friendly Senator Cretak gained the empty seat on the continuing committee as she publicly supported the alliance against the Dominion. Koval seeks out Bashir at the conference and asks about a disease called "the Quickening," which the Dominion introduced to a planet in the Gamma Quadrant, and how that could be induced into a planetary population. Bashir chairs a symposium on the subject and later tells Sloan that he believes Koval does have Tuvan syndrome, although he does express concern that the head of the Tal Shiar is asking so many pertinent questions about "the Quickening." Sloan says he doesn't care about that question but instead asks how the disease could be accelerated. Naturally, Bashir suspects that Sloan wants Koval killed in a way that makes it look like the Romulan's illness took a turn for the worse. Bashir decides to inform Admiral Ross, who plans to have Sloan arrested. Ross muses that Sloan could have an accomplice on Romulus to carry out the plan as they are both watching Sloan, and orders Bashir into silence. The next morning Bashir overhears that Ross has suffered from an aneurysm and spies Sloan looking smug at the next table. With nowhere else to turn, Bashir approaches Senator Cretak and tells her of his suspicions about Sloan. Cretak views the information as appalling at first, but believes Bashir's good intentions enough to help him by giving him classified Tal Shiar information. Bashir tries to delay Sloan's timetable by telling him he needs a tissue sample for confirmation of the diagnosis as the visual symptoms could be from any number of diseases. Sloan has Bashir's hand treated with a micro-adhesive that will serve as a skin sample collector during a handshake. Bashir is able to shake Koval's hand but is then immediately taken into Romulan custody and tortured. Bashir and Cretak are brought before a judicial committee where Koval elaborates on the plot to assassinate him (Koval) and brings in a tortured Sloan. Koval says that Section 31 was the invention of a renegade Starfleet Intelligence operative (Sloan) obsessed with getting revenge for his mentor's (Vice Admiral Fujisaki) death. Koval says it is impossible to know whether Bashir was in on the assassination plot or a tool of Sloan. The committee pronounces its sentences: Bashir is returned to the Bellerophon; Senator Cretak is convicted of committing an act of treason and will be sentenced later; Sloan is to be handed over to the Tal Shiar for further interrogation. Enraged, Sloan grabs a guard's disruptor but Koval fires first, vaporizing him. Back in his quarters on the Bellerophon, Bashir lies in bed and suddenly realises that he has been had. He marches off to meet with Admiral Ross and asks the whereabouts of Sloan. They agree to have an off the record conversation and make a point of removing their communication badges. Ross reveals that Sloan was to have been transported just before he was shot. He also reveals that Koval was working for Starfleet. Ross elaborates that the real mission was to get Koval onto the committee where he would advocate continuing the alliance with the Federation. He also admits that Senator Cretak was not a supporter of the alliance as Bashir thought; Cretak is a "patriot" and if she thought it in the best interest of the Romulans to abrogate the alliance then she would pursue that avenue. Cretak will definitely be dismissed from the Senate and imprisoned, and probably be executed for her role in the affair. This angers Bashir which causes Ross to utter the quote from Cicero: "Inter arma enim silent leges." Bashir retorts, "So, is that what we have become - a 24th century Rome, driven by nothing other than the certainty that Caesar can do no wrong?" Ross picks up his communicator and pins it back onto his chest saying that their conversation never happened. Bashir picks up his communicator and briefly looks as if he is willing to throw it back onto the table in disgust before exiting the room. Back aboard Deep Space Nine, Sloan shows up in Bashir's quarters, explaining that he needed a man of conscience for the operation, that the Federation needs men of conscience. Before he turns to leave, he adds that the Federation also needs men like Sloan to defend men like Bashir. Bashir initially calls Odo, but decides not to report Sloan's visit, instead reflecting on the words of Section 31's agent. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Murray Leeder on Tuesday, March 02, 1999 - 9:10 am: Kira mentioned the Rotarran as Martok's flagship. I thought that was changed. His use of another Bird of Prey as his flagship in Once More Unto the Breach may have been temporary. # Curious that Garak is still unwilling to comment on some of his spy activities. I think that perhaps this should come into the open now that he's worked with Starfleet intelligence. Palandine on Sunday, May 13, 2001 - 4:03 pm: For what it's worth, he goes into some detail about this in the novel "A Stitch in Time." I'm not going to give that cool part of the story away, other than to say that I would argue he didn't talk about it more out of shame and self-loathing than any particular desire to be cloak-and-dagger. Seniram 17:23, November 21, 2017 (UTC) Perhaps he thought it prudent to hold some information back as a precaution. # Peculiar that Section 31 (or at least Sloan) seems unaware or unwilling to bring up Neral's involvement in that whole false-reunification debacle. Too risky – reminding the Romulans about that could have prompted them to withdraw from the war against the Dominion. # Dan on Wednesday, March 03, 1999 - 9:12 pm: Big nit with set reuse: That nice galley that they were all in? Not supposed to exist! Peter Howie on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 7:28 pm: For those of you who think that there is a galley visible on the Bellerophon there isn't. They have a counter but behind that was a wall where on Voyager there would be a kitchen. The counter was different than the counter on Voyager and I think their's is meant to be as a bar. Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm: Considering that the ship being used was an Intrepid-class ship and so they could use the "Voyager" sets, there was little of the ship seen, and none of the crew. I did not really notice Neelix's galley on the Bellerophon, just the serving area, which might have existed in the original ship design as a kind of buffet counter or whatever. Ryan Smith on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 5:04 pm: For those wondering what exactly Neelix's galley started its life as, I went to the ST Encyclopedia and found that it used to be the captain's personal dining room. Of course, this can change from ship to ship. Think of all the different bridge modules we've seen in the movies. # Sloan couldn't have survived unless 31's tech is really really REALLY that good....they used the same type of visual shot when that guy was vaporized in TNG's Face of the Enemy. The shot hit him in the chest/stomach area and the rest of his body disappears… Mike Konczewski on Thursday, March 04, 1999 - 7:01 am: Dan--that fake death scene implies that Section 31 has a new form of transporter that looks exactly like the result of vaporization by phaser/disruptor. Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm: This was one of those rare moments when a person actually gets vaporized. Most times when people get shot, they might get burns on their chest but are otherwise intact, but Sloan got vaporized - which was kind of convenient since he got transported out by the "superfast" Section 31 transporter (kind of reminded me of the trick the mercenaries used on TNG's "The Gambit"; didn't buy the trick then and I don't buy it now). Then again, Section 31 must have some sophisticated technology, considering that Sloan can beam in and out of DS9 at will and without detection. The station would be monitoring such things since they are in a war zone and must be aware of such things (especially considering the Dominion's three-light-year transporter from Covenant). ' # ''Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm:''Where did Sloan go each time? Does Section 31 have its own secret ships with cloaking devices? '''Maybe a secret area either on Romulus or the Bellerophon. ' # Mike Konczewski on Thursday, March 04, 1999 - 7:01 am: I've never been able to figure out why the Romulans use so many terms from old Rome: senator, praetor, etc. For a people so critical about Earth, they sure like our history. ''sharon Jordan on Thursday, March 04, 1999 - 8:22 am:'' I think, that in their language, that is how their titles are translated as such. So in the universal translator, their titles translate into our familiar tiles of leaders of Rome.' # ''blue{Sharon Jordan} on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 8:00 pm: At the end of Inquisition, Sisko ordered him to accept an assignment right then and there, yet at the beginning of this episode, once Sloan gave it to him, Bashir kept turning him down! He doesn't remember Sisko's orders does he? maybe he thought Sisko wasn't serious. Bashir’s approach is actually quite sensible – if he had accepted Sloan’s assignment straight away, Sloan would have instantly become suspicious. # Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm: I noticed that in the one clear shot (relatively speaking), the name of the ship was not clear, but the first two letters were, "74...", just like those of Voyager. Perhaps all Intrepid-class ships start with "74..." or perhaps the creators simply did not want to paint over the model.Dan on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 6:01 pm: Well doesn't Defiant also start with 74? I think the producers just love 47 a lot...they are even putting the ships' registries with a backwards 47 in them. # Another question. We have seen lots of Federation ship designs, and we have seen four Klingon ship designs and at least three Dominion ship designs, but why do the Romulans have just one ship design? The warbirds are getting a little tiresome. The Romulan designers should come up with something new. Dan on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 6:01 pm: Well they seem 2 have 2 kinds. The other being a scout ship but I know you mean the bigger kinds like Starfleet has....well throughout TNG whenever you the Romulans show up and Worf says the romulans have decloaked he sometimes says "something or other" class...meaning they have different class ships......but conviently they all look alike.....Torque, Son of Keplar on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 12:02 pm: To the comment that the Romulans needs new ship designs, I have a few counter points to that. 1. Maybe Romulans don't have a Microsoft which requires an update or upgrade every 6 months, maybe they build better systems from the start. 2. Who says that they don't have other ship designs. Maybe the Romulans are only using the old Warbird designs for this war and their good stuff is cloaked and guarding Romulan assets closer to home. Think about it, the stealth fighter wasn't even released to the public until after it existed for some time. # Brad W. Higgins on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 4:46 pm:''I'm still trying to figure out what exactly the point of this episode was. Obviously it wasn't to assassinate Koval, since he turned out to be Starfleet's mole. I doubt if it was to get Cretak, since she was in favor of the alliance as long as the Romulan government was. Unless of course she was standing in Koval's way to be appointed to the Continuing Commitee, which seems unlikely. The only thing I can think of is that Starfleet Intelligence wanted to falsely expose Section 31 to the Romulans and then "kill" its leader so that they could continue to deny it's existence. They must really want to protect it if they're willing to go to such lengths to deny it. 'Adam Howarter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 1:11 am: The answer to the point of this episode was stated by Ross at the end. He looks more credible as a member of the council if he survived an assassination attempt. She on the other hand is loyal to the Romulans. If its in their best interest sometime in the future she would support a peace treaty with the Dominion, he won't. So get the possible threat out of the way in favor of the known ally.' # ''Ryan Smith on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 5:04 pm: A minor point, but the Tal Shiar's insignia has changed since Deanna Troi decided it gave her the right in Face of the Enemy (TNG). Many organisations update their logo from time to time! # Hans Thielman on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 12:11 pm: Sloan didn't seem terribly concerned that his conversations with Bashir might be monitored. Maybe he is secretly carrying something to prevent monitoring by anyone outside Section 31. # Why is Admiral Ross going to the conference in a dinky and unimpressive Intrepid Class ship? Prestige should have dictated that Admiral Ross travel in a Galaxy Class ship or at least an Excelsior Class ship. If nothing else, a Galaxy Class ship has more room for passengers than the Intrepid Class. Aaron Dotter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 12:47 pm: I would think that probably the Bellerophon was all that was available, since the Galaxies and Excelsiors are probably on the front, but probably the real reason they used the Intrepid is that they did not want to build new sets, and if they just used a different ship model with the same sets, we would all be wondering why a different class of ship has Voyager's sets. Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 1:27 pm: IMHO, I think that that the Intrepid-class ship made the most sense. Sending a warship like the Excelsior, Galaxy, or Defiant-classes, would send the wrong message to the Romulans. Sending the realitvely weak Intrepid-class conveys a message of friendship to the Romulans. Sending a battleship to your allies front porch is not a good idea.Thande on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 7:46 am: An Intrepid-class starship was an interesting and, I think, appropriate choice for Ross' command ship. There are things which we forget about because they never appear on Voyager, such as: The Intrepid is one of the fastest ships in the fleet, with a cruising speed of warp 9.975 (only the Sovereign and Defiant have been stated to be faster) making it ideal for getting the admiral to flashpoints quickly - or away from Romulus (remember, Romulan ships are usually stated to be slower than their Federation counterparts). Though Voyager is sometimes portrayed as undergunned, it actually has more weaponry than the much larger Enterprise-D! (Compare Voyager's 13 phaser arrays and 4 torpedo launchers with the Enterprise-D's 11 phasers and 2 torpedo launchers). The only advantage of the Enterprise is it has a much larger reserve of torpedoes. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 10:08 am: Where were the Sovereign and Defiant stated to be faster than the Intrepid? Thande on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 11:44 am: Not on screen, I admit. The DS9 Tech Manual, which is canonical (though riddled with errors :)) consistently states the Defiant's top speed to be warp 9.982. However, it doesn't say if this is top cruising or emergency speed; 9.975 is Voyager's top cruising speed. I can't seem to find the reference to the Sovereign, but if I recall correctly the top speed is something like warp 9.999. This makes sense given that the Sovereign is newer than the other two and is the flagship, so will presumably have the newest and most advanced warp technology in the fleet. (It also has really huge warp nacelles, but then Voyager has titchy ones and is one of the fastest ships...I guess size really is no measure of capability. :)LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 2:14 pm: Tech Manuals aren't canonical, Thande. They're conjecture. The only material that Paramount policy states is canonical is that which is derived from the episodes and movies. Thande on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 8:20 am: According to the foreword to the NextGen Guide II (or possibly the Classic Guide), the Tech Manuals and Encyclopaedias are considered canonical by Paramount and thus a suitable source of information for nitpicking. Unless they've changed their policy in the meantime. NB by Tech Manuals I only meant the NextGen and DS9 ones by the Okudas, not all the conjectural ones like the Star Fleet Tech Manual (TOS) and 'Mr Scott's Guide to the Enterprise'. LUIGI NOVI on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 3:34 pm: Actually, it doesn't say that at all. In the Classic Guide, where Phil Farrand modified the Nitpicker's Prime Directive, he only referred to "reference books," books, saying, "Reference books can help here as well, as long as the explanations match what is shown on the screen". Here he is talking about information derived from the episodes and movies (of which the bulk of the material in the Encyclopedia and Chronology are comprised). He is NOT talking about information that the books conjecture themselves (of which the bulk of the information in the Tech Manuals are comprised). Conjectural material is only a GUIDELINE for the creators, nothing more. An example is the first warp flight of Zephram Cochrane's Phoenix. The very first Chronology conjectured it to be in 2061. When ST First Contact was produced, the date used was 2063. When the second edition of the Chronology was published, the date therein was changed to reflect the canonical information now available from that movie. # The actor playing Koval also portrayed a Romulan involved in the brainwashing of La Forge in Next Generation's "The Mind's Eye." Maybe it’s meant to be the same character, or fsiling that a close relative! # The Federation bureaucracy must be terribly bloated if a Department of Cartography exists. Aaron Dotter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 12:47 pm: There do seem to be a lot of Federation agenices of one kind or another. Just look at all the ones in the Encyclopedia! # If Bashir was so annoyed with Sloan, then why didn't he either hypospray him or just punch him out and haul him over to Odo? Sloan could probably get out of it but you think Bashir would make the effort at least. That could cause more problems. # They must have timed that transporter to beam Sloan out REALLY, REALLY good. A disruptor beam goes at the speed of light so how can you know it is coming at you until it hits you? Adam Howarter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 9:28 pm: I suspect the phaser they shot him with was like the ones in "Gambit." Instead of vaporizing him it transported him away. Joshua Truax on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 10:22 am: If Sloan was beamed away a split second before being vaporized, as Adm. Ross claims, how come we never saw the transporter beam? Seniram 17:23, November 21, 2017 (UTC) Maybe it was hidden by the vaporisation effect. # Joshua Truax on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 10:22 am: Since I knew there was going to be an Intrepid-class starship in this episode, I set out to find any leftover "artifact" of Voyager, such as its registry number, aboard the Bellerephon that the creators overlooked and failed to remove. I didn't find any (at least, not the first time I watched). Kudos for that! However, I did find a discrepancy or two between Voyager and the Bellerophon. Before Voyager was brought into Delta Quadrant, its mess hall didn't have a kitchen; it just had a bare rear wall with a bunch of replicators. (See Caretaker (VGR).) I would have expected the Bellerephon's mess hall to have the same design. Instead, its rear wall has a bunch of paintings and other artwork on it instead. In addition, the lighting in the Bellerephon mess hall seems a bit brighter than aboard the original Voyager mess hall. ''Steve Oostrom on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 9:29 pm: ''I think the differences between Voyager and the Bellerephon is due to the fact that the latter is probably a ship used by the diplomatic corps, and so has been prettied up somewhat with better lighting, artwork on the walls and a mess hall that looks more like a reception hall. # Steve Oostrom on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 9:29 pm:''I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but why would Bashir and Ross have to take their commbadges off to have their "off-the-record" conversation at the end? Does the computer record the on-going conversations of the officers when they're wearing the commbadges? Talk about a lack of privacy. Or maybe it was symbolic that at that moment they were talking as ordinary men and not as Starfleet officers. I did find it curious, however. 'By Shirlyn Wong on Tuesday, March 09, 1999 - 8:23 am: when taken off? I kept thinking that though they have said it was "off the record" that they were actually broadcasting it to the entire world. The way I think comm badges work is touch it to activate (it chirps), speak to computer/person, deactivate either by tapping it again (w/ chirp) or just letting the connection time-out after the other party "hangs-up". Mike Konczewski on Tuesday, March 09, 1999 - 1:01 pm: When the Admiral and Bashir took off their badges, each badge made a single chirp, instead of the multiple chirp you normally hear when responding to a hail or sending a call. I assumed the single chirp meant they had turned off their badges, to show to one another that they weren't secretly broadcasting their conversation. Why they had to remove them, I can't say. Chris George, DS9 Moderator (Cgeorge) on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 - 4:44 pm: Mike, when I watched it, it just sounded like the noise of the badge being removed, rather than a chirp. I could be wrong, though. Nathan K. on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 - 7:35 pm: The creators have consistently added a soft "chirp" sound any time someone removes a communicator. I remember this occurring at least as far back as DS9's first season. They might figure it makes the badge sound more like an advanced piece of technology, or they might be using it to call attention to the fact that the badge is being deactivated. Sharon Jordan on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 - 7:48 pm: Nathan- that could be new technology added in to let them know the wearer is taking it off. My point being, many times in "TNG" and "DS9" when one took off the combadge and took off, the crewperson was still identified by the computer as being with the compadge still. I quess starfleet got fed up with that habit, and put in the "the crewperson took it off, so don't try to find them through this thing' feature.' # ''Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, May 01, 1999 - 2:25 am: Koval is head of the Tal Shiar and Sloane says it is odd that he hasn't moved up, but in Inquisition, Sloane said that to be a member of Section 31 you should have no ambition. Wouldn't the Tal Shiar have a similar policy? Different race – Different rules! # I didn't have a problem with the Captain's Private Dining Room being used for the Diplomatic get together early in the show, but later when Bashir finds out that Ross has had a heart attack it appears that it is being used by off-duty crewmembers. I guess the captain is very tolerant of who uses it. Either that or it’s a different room that just looks like the private dining room. # Koval's weapon seemed to 'destroy' Sloane pretty slowly, other episodes using Romulan phasers had the process be much quicker, so why didn't any Romulan comment on the slowness of Koval's weapon? (It kind of acted like the Teran T disrupter from The Most Toys.) How did Sloane beam out while his body was supposedly being zapped? Possibility 1. Koval's weapon was actually a holographic projector giving the illusion of destroying Sloane while actually cloaking him, or allowing him to activate a personal cloak, so he could leave the room. Possibility 2. Sloane and the Romulans who brought him in where actually holograms projected out of some secret Tal Shiar holoprojectors hidden in the Council room. Possibility 3. 'Sloane' was actually a person made up to look like Sloane and was actually disintegrated. (I think this one is the most likely.) Personally, I think Option 2 makes more sense! # Teral on Friday, July 06, 2001 - 3:27 pm: O'Brien seems to have some funny ideas about ship repair. During the meeting at the start he says that it is his assessments that determines which gets repaired. According to Worf the Klingon ships are the ones who has suffered the most damage, and O'Brien decides that they therefore should be first in the line for repair. Wouldn't it be much smarter to repair the ships witch are the least damaged first and get them back on the frontline as soon as possible, instead of spending perhaps weeks with one seriously damaged ship. But perhaps O'Brien just don't like the romulans very much and is indeed giving them less than their share of repairtime as hinted by senator Cretak. Or he feels it is prudent to prevent a badly damage ship from harming the station by breaking up. # Thande on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 9:42 am: Changed premise: a Romulan calls the disease from "The Quickening", 'The Quickening', but in the episode it was just referred to as 'the blight'. The disease may have been renamed in order to distinguish it from other forms of blight. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine